Forensic Linguistics: Forensic Voice and Text Comparison

Recorded speech and written texts are increasingly presented as scientific evidence in legal cases. This is due to the fact that the accessibility and anonymity of mobile phones and the internet mean that they are often exploited for criminal acts, but at the same time they leave records which must then be analysed as forensic evidence. This has led to a rapid growth of forensic voice/text comparison as a field of forensic science. The theories and techniques, which are necessary to analyse linguistic evidence, are introduced and demonstrated, with a particular focus on voice and text as linguistic evidence, using examples taken from various languages. In this course, we overview the process of forensic voice/text comparison, including extraction of individualising information from speech/text samples; modelling of speakers/authors, experimental procedures; calculation of evidential strength and performance assessment. Students will be trained so that they can apply their acquired skills and knowledge to actual linguistic data. This course assumes the knowledge of Year 12 mathematics.